


Prologue

by Fabrisse



Series: Rebuilding the Table [9]
Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 17:02:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3454922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Eggsy get to know each other a bit better from half a world away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is set during the aftermath of V-Day. I felt like I wanted a backstory for Merlin.

The six weeks after V-Day had been a mess. For Roxy and Eggsy, it was a baptism of fire. They were far less likely to be killed on their missions, but the disaster and diplomacy which they faced was alarming.

Since Eggsy listed his second language as "Profanity" on his official biography -- Merlin had shaken his head and substituted "n/a" for the moment -- he was sent as an aide to Caradoc in the Americas before being sent to New Zealand and Australia on his own -- in spite of having no official place at the table. Roxy took the French speaking countries which were neither France itself nor Muslim. And Merlin was putting him through to Scandinavia when his current mission was finished at the express request of Princess Tilde.

"You know Canberra just ain't that interesting."

Merlin smiled. "Maybe next time there's an international crisis it can be in Sydney or Melbourne."

"They've been hit so hard by this Merlin. They were having problems with drought before, but some of the sheep and other farms lost everyone -- or nearly everyone -- which means potential problems with feral livestock. The traditional aboriginals were the least hit, and Sydney was the hardest hit, not as bad as India or Japan, of course, but much worse than anywhere outside of the U.S."

"What's going to happen?"

Eggsy leaned back in his chair and said, "I think they're going to loosen immigration restrictions for anyone who speaks English and wants a fresh start. Commonwealth countries for first preference, but they'll get to a point where anyone with a sense of adventure will probably be allowed in -- as long as they're willing to work the areas that have been depopulated."

Merlin said, "We're calling it the Caradoc solution."

"Yeah, well, he deserves the credit. Probably going to be some population exchanges, like. People who know ranching or farming, but don't want to live with the memories of where they were when the wave hit. Who knew so many farm implements could be weapons?"

"You're doing well, Eggsy."

"If I'd been a little faster, been focused on Valentine rather than Gazelle…"

"If you'd been focused on anything but keeping yourself alive so you could take out Valentine, this could have lasted much longer. He was aiming to reduce the population by eighty percent, give or take. We lost less than five percent world wide."

"I know." Eggsy glanced at the computer's clock. "I hadn't thought about the time difference. I have the afternoon off, but it's early hours of the morning there."

"I'm not the only one working operations, you know. I just came on shift an hour ago."

Eggsy smiled, "Don't have to feel guilty then." 

There was a long pause and Merlin was just about to begin the sign-off protocol when Eggsy said, "You gotta few minutes?"

"For what?"

"Advice."

"Nothing medical."

Eggsy chuckled, "Nothing like that, just… I'm English. I wear a nice suit. And my Kingsman clearance gets me in anywhere and quite a bit of respect."

"Is there a down side to that?"

"Well, it's two things. I feel a bit of a fraud, but then I think about what Harry said that a gentleman has nothing to do with accent. And I realize that this is what it might have been like if I'd got into officer candidate school -- on a much bigger scale, of course -- but it's training in how to make the best decisions in limited amounts of time for the widest number of people."

"An excellent summation. So, the other thing?"

"I'm not educated. I've had dinners… I mean there was one in Vancouver where I think I may have embarrassed Caradoc because I didn't know the right way to eat with chopsticks. And that's what your toff world does. It makes people like me feel inferior because we don't know the kinds of things you get to learn just by being 'round other toffs."

Merlin said, "Roxy would probably be your best help there. Go out to dinner with her; ask her about wine pairings and forks. I'll take you some places when you get back, if you'll agree to start playing chess with me again."

"Sure, mate. I enjoy taking you down on the chess board. I'm pretty sure if I tried it at the gym, you'd wipe the floor with me even if I am younger and prettier."

"I think you mispronounced 'cheekier' there." Merlin thought for a moment. "Let me also clear something up for you. I went to Gordonstoun. Trust me, commando school was easy after that."

"That's the one Prince Charles went to, innit? You a buddy of the Prince of Wales?"

"Not from school. I went into the junior school when he was completing his final year. But my point is that I was sent on a scholarship provided by my local church. I was born in the Gorbals when the razor gangs meant it was considered the most dangerous neighborhood in Britain. If I hadn't been bright. If my father hadn't been killed in a factory accident. If I'd had more than one sister. Any of those things would have prevented me from either getting the scholarship or taking the opportunity."

Eggsy was quiet for a long moment. "Sorry for underestimating you, guv. I noticed Arthur weren't exactly talking posh when he realized I'd switched the glasses, too."

"Yes, well, he tended to avoid thinking about his humble beginnings. I don't feel like I've given you much advice, though."

Eggsy said, "After Harry taught me how to make a good martini, he said I needed to know about the finer things in life, develop my own tastes, but still know about things like, I dunno, opera, even if I didn't like them. I suppose Roxy's my best bet there, too."

Merlin said, "She can help with proper etiquette, but you have to develop your own tastes." He thought for a moment, then added, "One of the things I liked about you in training is that you used the library, and by that I mean read the books, not used the chairs to take a nap the way some of our candidates do. How did you pick which books to read?"

"I picked ones with covers that looked interesting. Seriously, turns out you _can_ judge a book by its cover. Asked Roxy for some recommendations -- Harry after he was awake, too. And if I heard the others talking about a book or something out of history I didn't know about, I'd remember it and try to find it."

"You can find lists of great books or best books in English or classic literature online. As far as music goes, Harry really liked the romantic period of music, including opera from that era. Me, I prefer Baroque and early classical music -- say Bach to Gluck. And jazz, I'm a big fan of be-bop and some of the cool jazz musicians from the forties and fifties. I can pull some suggestions about music for you. Let you figure out what you might like before you spend hundreds of pounds on opera tickets. I noticed you didn't mention ballet or dance."

"Didn't mention art, neither. Art, I've been going to the museums, figuring out what I like. Them fauves is pretty interesting, and the surrealists are pretty sick -- in a good way, mostly. Don't like the cubists much. And for dance, fit people moving well is beautiful."

Merlin chuckled. "You're full of surprises, Eggsy."

"Harry said that once. My phone's flashing. Looks like there's going to be an evening meeting after all."

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks, and for the advice, too. Maybe one of the places you can take me to would be a jazz club. I might like it."

Merlin smiled. "You just might."


End file.
